Hard Truth #1: Penn State is not yet an elite football team

Final Hard Truth #1:Penn State does not (as is suggested by current empirical and intangible evidence) have an elite football team.

JOE HERMITT, The Patriot-News, 2008Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark pauses during his post game press conference after the Lions 24-23 loss to Iowa at Kinnick Stadium.

To be fair, I am only considering four teams to be "elite": Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, and USC. I think that any one of them beats any other team in CFB at least eight times out of ten.

And no, I do not care that USC's quarterback is a true freshman. I think at this point, when it comes to developing quarterbacks, we can consider Pete Carroll's record to be at least slightly above average.

So not being "elite" does not mean that you cannot be in the top ten - it just means that there is a sizable gap between the very best teams and the very good teams. Elite teams play calm, fearless football. They can win in any stadium, against any team, and they know this.

One thing I would like to see out of Daryll Clark this year is to tone down the emotion just a little bit. I love to see players get excited after a big score but there can be a severe downside when things don't go their way. Clark in particular seems to beat himself up a lot - to the press, on the sidelines - and at times, he appears downright distraught. This is not a desirable quality for a quarterback.

After a mistake (and even a big mistake), the best quarterbacks jog off the field, grab a drink, talk to the coaches, talk to the rest of the offense, then grab their helmets and mentally prepare for the next time they have the ball in their hands. Once you make a mistake, it's over. How you learn from it, how you respond - this is what defines you as a player. This is what defines greatness.

Unlike last year, Clark enters this season as the unquestionable leader of the offense. For this team to have a shot at greatness, he will have to play fearless football.